2018 Balakong by-election

A by-election was held on 8 September 2018 for the Selangor State Legislative Assembly seat of Balakong.[1] The seat became vacant after the death of the incumbent assemblyman, Eddie Ng Tien Chee on 20 July 2018 in a traffic accident on the Cheras–Kajang Expressway.[2] Eddie Ng was a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the state ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition. This was the second casual vacancy in the Assembly since the May 2018 general election after Sungai Kandis, which held a by-election in August 2018. The by-election will be held on the same day as the Seri Setia by-election.[3] In the last 2018 general election, Ng defeated Barisan Nasional (BN)'s Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) candidate, Lim Chin Wah and Mohamad Ibrahim Ghazali of Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), with a vote majority of 35,538.[4]

2018 Balakong by-election
8 September 2018
N27 Balakong seat in the Selangor State Legislative Assembly
  First party Second party
  PH MCA
Candidate Wong Siew Ki Tan Chee Teong
Party DAP MCA
Alliance PH BN
Popular vote 22,508 3,975
Percentage 84.99% 15.01%
N27 Balakong state constituency border and the districts included within the constituency.
Balakong assemblyman before election

Eddie Ng Tien Chee (died)
Pakatan Harapan (DAP)

 Elected Balakong assemblyman

Wong Siew Ki
Pakatan Harapan (DAP)

  Balakong state constituency boundaries within the Bangi parliamentary constituency

The nomination day was on 18 August 2018.[1] The by-election set for a straight fight between PH's DAP and BN's MCA. While PAS had decided not to contest to make way for the BN candidate, just liked in the case of the Sungai Kandis by-election a month earlier.[5]

Pakatan Harapan retained the seat with a larger share of vote.[6]

Candidates

Pakatan Harapan (Democratic Action Party) Wong Siew Ki was serving as the Seri Kembangan assemblyman and Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah’s political secretary and she was also Subang Jaya municipal councillor since 2016 then.[7] She graduated in 2009 from the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

Barisan Nasional (Malaysian Chinese Association) Tan Chee Teong is a committee member in the Serdang Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA). He is a local of Balakong.

Electoral logo quirk

This by-election marks the first time Pakatan Harapan had used their just approved common logo in an election. The then-federal opposition coalition was unable to contest the 2018 general election with their logo due to the Registrar of Societies not approving their registration in time for the election.[5] The registration was finally approved only after the election, which delivered the coalition to power.[8]

Conversely, the MCA will be using their own party logo for the first time since they joined Barisan Nasional in 1973.[5] MCA candidates have normally used the BN common logo in elections up to the 2018 general election.

Result

DAP and Pakatan Harapan's Wong Siew Ki polled 22,058 votes to MCA and Barisan Nasional's Tan Chee Teong's 3,975 votes retaining the seat for DAP and Pakatan Harapan.[6]

Selangor state by-election, 8 September 2018: Balakong
Upon the death of incumbent, Eddie Ng Tien Chee
Party Candidate Votes%∆%
PHWong Siew Ki22,50884.99+ 7.46
MCATan Chee Teong¹3,97515.01+ 4.11
Total valid votes 26,483100.00
Total rejected ballots 2270.86+ 0.33
Unreturned ballots 24
Turnout 26,73442.97- 45.21
Registered electors 62,219
Majority 18,53369.98+ 4.01
PH hold Swing
Source(s)

"Federal Government Gazette - Notice of Contested Election - By-election of the State Legislative Assembly of N.27 Balakong for the State of Selangor [P.U. (B) 498/2018]" (PDF). Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-19.

"Federal Government Gazette - Results of Contested Election and Statement of the Poll after the Official Addition of Votes for the By-election of N.27 Balakong [P.U. (B) 522/2018]" (PDF). Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-19.

Note: 1Tan Chee Teong was a candidate of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), who had contested under the MCA banner instead of the BN banner.

Results based on polling district

PH won all polling districts and post and early votes.

Previous result

2018 Selangor state election: Balakong
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PH (DAP) Eddie Ng Tien Chee 41,768 77.53 10.28
PAS Mohamad Ibrahim Ghazali 6,230 11.56 N/A
BN (MCA) Lim Chin Wah 5,874 10.90 20.10
Rejected ballots 286 0.53 0.91
Majority 35,538 65.97 29.72
Turnout 54,384 88.20 0.54
Registered electors 61,659
PH hold Swing 15.19

References

  1. Alhadjri, Alyaa (30 July 2018). "21-day campaign period for Sept 8 Balakong by-election". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  2. Bernama (20 July 2018). "DAP Balakong rep dies in accident, second by-election for S'gor". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  3. "Seri Setia and Balakong by-elections to run concurrently". Malaysiakini. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  4. "Balakong by-election candidate shares secret to maintaining good stamina while campaigning". The Sun Daily. 26 August 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  5. Wong, Kai Hui (18 August 2018). "Balakong straight fight: DAP adopts Harapan logo, MCA drops BN's for first time". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  6. "Official: Harapan retains Balakong with increased vote share". Malaysiakini. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  7. "S'gor MB: 'Grassroots leader' Wong Siew Ki a good choice for Balakong". The Star. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  8. "EC finally approves Pakatan Harapan's logo". Malay Mail. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
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